


Alight & Alone

by Space_Interrobang



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Agender Character, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Thriller
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-01 09:56:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20813231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Space_Interrobang/pseuds/Space_Interrobang
Summary: A traveler comes to rest at an abandoned town, and his desire to learn its history lead him to where legends lie.





	Alight & Alone

There are several types of dragons. The standards like fire and ice that horde treasure and live on mountains or in caves. Terrorizing those that come near them. The lesser known without wings like earth that have scales of bark and help the forests flourish, or water that swallow and spit out the tides. Ones with four wings and three heads. Dragons with feathers instead of scales that are not much different from parrots in the jungle. There are even celestial dragons. Ancient and made of the stars themselves. Resting in their nest of galaxies.

Then there are a few not many are privy to. Dragons only in legend. Never confirmed by the eyes of man or elf. Whispered about to children in foothill villages to deter them from going too deep in the mountains. Beasts that skulk in shadow. Some of the stories even going so far as to say they are the shadows. Light the chief protector to wanderers.

They were only stories to Jongdae. Fear mongering to get children to behave. So when he came to an abandoned town set into the base of a mountain on his journeys, he decided it was the perfect place to camp. Carved in stone with gilded towers and marble inlaid streets. He wrote notes on the architecture as he strolled further in. That’s what he did. He was a historian, of sorts. Recording the world as it is for future generations. Court scholars only record the city’s goings on. He wanted to know more. How did the town by the marshlands farm? Who repairs the trade routes? Do villagers in the North even speak the same dialect, or because they’re intermingled with the elves and satyrs more do they see the language in the city as the trade tongue? What folklore would he hear in each region? It all fascinated Jongdae. So he kept his books and quill on him at all times in a satchel. Ready to write and sketch crude drawings of each new place.

That town he camped at was new. Unfinished. Piles of chiseled stone sitting by halves of homes and stairs that lead to nowhere. It wasn’t on any maps, and it made him reflect on the conversation he had with a woman in the hills East of the mountain. She had pointed at this exact area and spoke a tongue he did not know. He had guessed she was leading him to the next village, but as he approached the gate at the mouth of the mountain he thought maybe it was a warning. At the very least the items in front of the enormous carved stone were a sign. A berm of ashes and chunks of charred logs up to his knees. With the wind the pile should have been whipped away years ago. And three entire tree trunks pinching the doorway and ground. A barricade.

The scent of sage caught his senses. To the right stood an effigy staked into the ground blackened by soot of a tall figure wreathed in strings of herbs and flowers. A bundle of sage still smoked at its feet.

Jongdae sat on a nearby boulder and sketched the sight. It was curious, and so he decided to explore further. Looking for a smaller entrance. One they would have made for emergencies where the main gate wasn’t an option like a fire. Around a jagged bend was what he was searching for, though blocked by rocks. The place above seemed intact. It wasn’t a collapse. He could have missed the unassuming door all-together if he hadn’t been seeking it out in daylight. So he moved the rocks. Tossing them aside onto the intermingled grass and stone until he could force it open. The wooden door giving way to the inside of the mountain. Heavier than it appeared. Jongdae grunted with effort, and the hinges howled in protest. Echoing down the tunnel.

Before stepping through he waited to catch his breath. Staring into the long void of darkness. A curtain of black hung on the doorway, impervious to sunlight. Air thick and heavy and stale. So Jongdae cupped his palms and raised them close to his face. Whispering magic into being. A wisp of a glowing orb to light his way. Blue-ish in hue, and once Jongdae opened his hands, it hovered just above his height over his shoulder. Then he walked into the mountain.

Daylight abandoned his sight. The friendly iridescence he conjured guiding his footsteps. His nose rankled at the scent of something rotting. The kind of foulness that settled rancid on the tongue. Lips curled down in disgust. Glancing around, his eyes widened in horror.

There was a corpse behind the door. It appeared tall enough to be human or elven. Jongdae had jammed and crushed the decaying body by opening the door. The flesh sliding off the bones without muscle or tissue to bind it. The white of the jaw and cheek showing through the tears in its face. The clothes and hair gave him a better idea of what it was. Though dirtied, the robes used to be green and silver. An embroidered emblem of an arch made of a tree on their breast. Precious metal chains and rings adorned their neck and hands with no jewels, and their auburn hair hung to their knees. The mark of a highborn in elvish society. The more extravagant their hair and hairstyle, the higher they were. The corpse was someone from a noble elvish house. Drooping, discolored, mangled…but not alone. Two other smaller bodies were tangled on the tunnel wall beside the first with the same emblem on their sleeves. As if all three had been huddled together before Jongdae opened the door. Suffered and starved and scared in the dark.

The traveler swallowed the lump in his throat and moved further in. Following the curves of the tunnel until he came to a wall. It could have been mistaken for a dead end if it weren’t for the seam in the stone. He pushed it open and came into the main hall. The height of the ceiling and general expanse of the room he couldn’t measure in the dark, but when he took a step it echoed rather well. He took a more relaxed breath in the enormous space until something fetid balled in the back of his mouth. The air was still and soaked in decay. Not as strong as the cramped tunnel, but sitting like a fog near the ground. Jongdae turned left and muttered to the orb. Cajoling it to be brighter.

More bodies were strewn about near the main gate. Leaning on pillars with their throats slit to the bone or run through with a sword in a dried pool of blood. Near a dozen that he could see. None in armor, but all armed. Jongdae wandered the area. Searching overturned carts of marble, and behind a huge boulder only partially carved into a head for a statue, and further in to other rooms. Cart tracks leading to each one where tables lined the walls with tools for inspecting the quality of gems and minerals. Empty carts in all except one that was partially filled with gold coins. The longer Jongdae stayed, however, the more he looked over his shoulder. Watching for moving shadows. The heat of eyes on his back crawling up his neck and forming beads of sweat. His hands shaking as he left the corridor of inspection rooms and followed cart tracks to a mine shaft. Tugging on the laces at the top of his shirt.

A ramp lead his footsteps around the circumference of the large quarry. Taking him deeper underground. He avoided looking over the roped railing. Afraid the blackened chasm would swallow him whole and break his neck, but exploring all the same.

After every other full rotation there was a level dug outward with columns for support. The first was more inspection areas with carts of coins. Jongdae skimmed his fingers over one of the piles with a curious look before continuing. The second was nothing but blacksmithing stations. The third down had various tools and saws for cutting. Jongdae didn’t linger in that one for very long. Most of the equipment was broken, and he spooked himself by kicking a pebble over the edge of the ramp where he couldn’t hear it hit the bottom. Instead he heard stone scraping stone overhead. Jongdae shook his head. Perhaps his disturbing things made a pile fall down somewhere. There was nothing to be frightened of. But he still clung to the walls. His ears still perked. The silence of the abandoned mines impressed upon him. Surrounding him with absolute and complete nothing.

The next two levels were the largest, and had all the smelters inside. Afterward it was just the ramp and uneven walls from where the previous inhabitants mined. Jongdae considered going back to the surface until he saw another small rock at his feet. He decided if he threw it down the center of the shaft and heard it clunk to the bottom he would explore, because that meant he was near to finding the missing pieces of this mysterious town, but if he didn’t then it would wait until morning. He peeked over the railing, white-knuckling the rope, and felt his heart leap into his throat.

There was a soft white glow coming from deep in the ground. Just two levels away. Had some survived the skirmish up top? Was this their discovery? Was it natural or magical?

Jongdae, reinvigorated by the possibilities, practically sprinted down the ramp. He jerked to a halt at the end. Splitting off the side was a cave, but the entrance was blocked. A magical ward shimmered and distorted his vision through to the other side. He quickly raised his hands to it and felt for the energy. Making him shudder. The trap was to shock any who touched it with lightning. So Jongdae pulled out his waterskin, mumbled an incantation, and splashed the barrier. It jolted, rippled and flashed, the entrance seemingly warping in and singeing the air before bursting all at once. A few darting sparks over his toes the only remnant until those faded as well. Leaving Jongdae a path inside.

What he found left him speechless. Simply trying to take in the splendor of the gorgeous area. The cave was twice his height, with crystals large and small jutting from the walls, and hanging from the ceiling. Even around a small natural spring to the far right. Clear, or some slightly frosted over. The light from Jongdae’s floating orb bounced, reflected, and refracted off almost every surface. Coloring the cave in a wonder of rainbows and stars. Shining on him like he had the finest linens tailors could only dream of making without magic. It was almost blinding. He smiled, looked at the pieces of galaxies on the back of his hand, and laughed. Until he caught sight of something.

A flash of a reflection in a larger crystal. The elven noble from the emergency exit. Flesh dripping off their face, dagger gleaming in the light. Limping its way closer as if to slice his throat open like some of the other corpses. Jongdae’s heart skipped, and he gasped. Whipping around to see nothing but the cave entrance. Backing further inside its bright, jagged walls. His blood raced on edge through his veins. Glancing over each shoulder.

Then there was the scratch. Like talons on stone. Slicing through the air and scoring his heart. Then the rumble. Like a growl that hasn’t left the base of the throat yet. He wiped his face with his sleeve.

Then his vision morphed the mound of crystals by the spring. It sighed and rose. Unfurling like loosely coiled ribbon. Revealing a stretched tail and an elongated neck with a head. The creatures flesh under the crystals like stained glass. Its eyes found his person straight away. The prismatic irises color was being drawn into the slatted pupils, and it mesmerized the traveler. Paralyzing his feet on the spot.

He clamped his eyes shut tight and opened them again, but the creature was still there. It was closer, in fact. Wings folded tightly to its body. Claws scratching the ground. Head low. So Jongdae did what any level-headed scholar would do when confronted with a dragon.

“Uh…um…hello?” His voice trembled fiercely.

The spines on the creature’s head flared and flattened. Tossing the light around and striking his eyes. Making him wince and glance down. There was a particular patch of purple from the base of its neck that gleamed on the floor of the cave. It crept closer to his feet like the setting sun through a window.

“It-it’s marvelous to…make your…acquai-acquaintance,” he bumbled. “Ha-have you always lived in this splendorous place?” He waited a few shallow breaths. “People call me Jongdae; history keeper an-and wandering wizard. Sort of. How shall I address you?”

The rumbling ceased, and its head raised. “Why do you keep the histories? Should they not be shared?”

The voice that had spoken surprised Jongdae. It was quiet and feathered. Not deep and ferocious like other dragons. A bit jilted as well. Not the cadence of a natural trade speaker.

“I…intend to share them,” he replied slowly. “But I must finish recording them first.”

The creature dipped and slunk around Jongdae. Startling him. Circling, curling around and looming over his form. Compressing him into a tiny space to avoid any sharp pricks from the edges of the crystals. The air turned thick in his lungs. Pressuring him to appease.

“Do you steal these histories, Keeper?”

“One can-” He cleared his throat. “One cannot steal what is freely shared.”

“So you are not a thief.”

“Of course not.”

“Where else has your wandering brought you?”

“Well…I came from the royal city in the South, and went fairly straight North until now. Following the Western coast for the most part.”

“A far journey.”

“Yes…I suppose…”

It circled him once more. Eyes piercing and overwhelming. Then its tail flicked at his hair. Causing it to bounce and stick out.

“I apologize,” Jongdae began. “But, I still do not know your name, and I feel it impolite to call you by anything else.”

“Call me whatever you wish though I may refuse to answer the same for I have no moniker. Or it was granted at a time too lost and I have forgotten it. Your Keeping would have served very well then.”

“Indeed, I suppose it might have…” he answered, unsure.

“You will show it to me.”

“What?”

“The records of your keeping.”

“We-well they are very dear to me, and I…I fear your fire, or whatever the case may be, could turn my life’s work to ash.”

“It is my shape that fails to assuage your trepidation? Well, I suppose I can’t very well grasp a book with talons.” The creature unwound away from him, and began to glow from within. Rays of light shooting out, glinting, glimmering, until it was nothing but a blinding blur, and Jongdae shut his eyes. When they re-opened there was a woman in front of him. Or, the shape of a warrior woman. Muscular and tall. Its skin was still as colored glass not unlike the crystals surround if they were polished. And instead of flowing hair there was a soft white light that floated behind her–their–shoulders like water. The angles of their face cut like the finest, most precious jewels. A refined and elegant ethereal creature. He was captivated.

“How did you…how have I not heard tales of such a wonderful being?”

“Perhaps you have but cannot recognize it,” they replied. “I may take endless forms in this space as well as in the minds of men.”

Jongdae’s features sank. “The effigy outside.”

“Indeed,” they nodded and stepped closer. “Another baseless monster. I am not so malicious as others would claim, but the village insists I’m an evil spirit or beast summoned only to torment, and steep the world in chaos if I were let free.”

Jongdae hadn’t realized how close they had come until their hands were on the strap of his satchel. Lifting it up and off his body. He watched as they pulled out one of his two books and set the satchel on the ground. Opening its pages as they strolled to the wall.

A gentle smile formed their mouth. Fingers stroking down the parchment. Skimming over the ones without pictures. “It is no wonder your kind chose to copy important information in this way.”

“My kind?”

“Surfacers.”

“So you have always lived in this mountain? How can you speak? Know all these things? Was it the miners?”

The smiled dimmed. “Come. I will absolve your curiosities of the sinister sight above.” They shut the tome and turned away.

Jongdae followed them further in to the wall opposite the spring. They went to their knees, and so he did the same. Sitting beside them and a large, clear crystal. They laid his book on the ground and put their hand up to the crystal. It came to life at their behest, and images shone under its surface. Blurred around the edges. First of the one beside Jongdae in that very same spot.

“I was born of the crystals in this cave,” they spoke. “A sibling to light and earth, and it is the earth that speaks to me, and to every place else it lays. One and the same.” The image shifted to the palace in the capital. “The crystals are the perfect meeting place. The light is the guide. It is timeless and formless until reflected. It bends and bares itself to those who know how to master it. And you can follow it backwards as well.” The image shifted again to that of humans and elves hollowing out an entrance and building streets. Jumping through year after year of the mines above being built. “For ages too long for counting I watched the civilizations on the surface flourish. Learned their languages, their customs, their names. I saw their knowledge in these crystals…and yet I have never left the shelter of this mountain. When the miners came, I gave them small visions. Guiding them where to dig. I was so excited…soon I could see the world with my own eyes and talk to others with my own voice.

I gave them stone and marble, and gold. They only had to leave the crystals alone, but soon they found the vein leading to my home, and could not keep their true nature at bay.” Their voice grew harder. Tensing against a quiver. Fingers grasping the side of the crystal. The images changed to that of the elven noble with crystals caged in their jewelry, and a scared creature in a cave. “They would have stripped my family away until they were nothing but broken fragments trapped in a chain around someone’s neck. With each piece they stole from the ground I felt myself crack a little inside. So I replaced the visions of my home. Implanted the idea of a shadowy monster to frighten them away. I did not anticipate its effects on everyone in the town.”

The visions changed to that of families leaving with their children. In-fighting between miners, arguments with the elvish nobility, workers growing restless and paranoid. The population dwindling. Until a faction went mad. Barricading the front gates, and piling the stones at the emergency door. Trapping the remaining people inside with what they believed was a monster.

Jongdae’s eyes filled with tears. Tone shattering against the building waves of emotion. Raising his eyes to their face. “So lonely an existance...lonely then and even lonelier now. How did you stand it all those centuries?”

Their gaze emptied. The visions fading on the crystal. “One does not notice anything absent until there is hope of more.”

The traveler reached out carefully, and slowly let his hand form to the back of theirs on the ground betwixt their bodies. Blood rushing in his veins. “I’m so sorry…”

Their skin was cool to the touch. His fingers still quivered. Without warning they twisted and wrapped him in an embrace. His tears dammed up in his shock. Taking in a larger breath and sighing. It should have been like running into a window, or figurine. They should have been delicate and firm. Instead what he felt was any other woman’s flesh squish to his. Fingertips anchoring themselves on his back. A cool mist on his cheek.

Jongdae slipped his palms to their waist, and around to the spine. Pulling them closer. Smoothing up and down. Feeling the realness, and the chill, and the desire for companionship. His face flaming. And he shivered.

Their shoulders shook once then one hand loosened. Fingers plucking through Jongdae’s hair before sinking deep. Buried to the root. Face in the crook of his neck, and they sat. For hours it felt like. Steeping in his new knowledge. Planning how to record it on parchment, and realizing over and over with a pained chest precisely how desperate this creatures life had been. His heart feeling heavier with every new thought of their isolation, and the irreparable damage those villagers caused. To live their entire life alone with only windowed visions for friends, and to give up that dream of freedom and adventure to protect themselves.

After a while passed Jongdae let up, and they released him in turn. Allowing them both to stand. Jongdae gathered his books in his satchel, and slung it over his shoulder.

“Come outside with me,” he propositioned. “If the villagers could only meet you they would understand. We could all understand. I can write a letter to the palace petitioning for this area of crystals to be protected. They would be endangering your life otherwise. They would have to do it. People would never dare touch a forest of Nymphs, why not magical crystalline caves? If only they knew you were here.”

They took a step away, hugging themselves and shaking their head. “No,” they refused softly. “No, the villagers would never forgive me. I would be dead on the spot. I cannot leave. There would be no one to speak for the histories. To protect them.”

“Only one hour in the sun then. To begin. We won’t even leave the base of the mountain. I want to show you all the things you had wished for gazing into those visions. Don’t you long to feel the sun on your face? The grass beneath your feet? What about sailing? I’ll take you sailing. We can journey the world together.”

“…together?”

“Yes, oh there’s so many places I want to take you. The amethyst waterfalls, the hanging roads, the upside-down city. It must be well into the night by now. I already set up camp. I’ll rest outside and come back in the morning. It’s a big step, but the first is the hardest, and you’ll have me to help, a little at a time.”

“You will…” they whispered. “You’ll stay with me? Like this?”

Jongdae grinned warmly. “I will return come daylight. I promise.”

They hesitated, but dipped their head to acknowledge his words. With that new hope planted, Jongdae made it up the spiraling ramp into the main hall. The end of his sleeve wet with perspiration where he had been dabbing his face. The orb he conjured still drifting above him. He searched for the tunnel he came in through. Running along the wall in the dim dark. Palms pressed to the stone. The gap he left in the doorway had not showed itself, and his hands felt no seams or abnormally smooth cracks.

The reek had not weakened either. Cycling in his nostrils. As time crept on, Jongdae’s heart picked up pace. Mind sprinting, tripping and doubling over on itself. Eyes darting, squinting. Pacing every wall in case he tried the wrong one. Then he returned to where his memory lead. Fingers splayed on the mountain. His shallow breaths concentrated in his ears. Panting, pushing for an exit. The giant main gate to his right, an ugly silence to his left, and behind him…a light glinted.

**Author's Note:**

> Ambiguous ending ha ha ha. If you want to leave a comment telling me your thoughts, or what you think happened after the end I'd be really interested. Feedback is always deeply appreciated. Thanks for reading♡.


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